Since the early days of agriculture, farmers have toiled to increase their productivity and the amount of crops they can produce. Although there have been many major improvements along the way, perhaps one of the most significant has been the development of the tractor. This multi-function machine has freed farmers from the limitations of horses, oxen, etc., and greatly increased the productivity of farmers.
Over time, tractors gradually replaced horses and oxen for pulling agricultural machines or “implements” through the fields. Most such implements where initially “rear-mounted” as it was much easier for a horse or ox to pull, rather than push, a machine through the field, and so tractors initially pulled such rear-mounted implements as well. However, as tractors—and the agricultural equipment industry as a whole—developed, it became apparent that implements no longer had to remain rear-mounted. Ingenious new designs appeared that allowed implements to be mounted to the front of a tractor and be effectively “pushed” through the fields. Although such mounting means can still be found, others chose to mount implements in a middle or “belly” configuration in which the implement is located between the front and rear wheels of the tractor. This middle mounting has the same primary advantage that front mounting had over rear mounting: the operator or driver of the tractor can view the implement working the field; make adjustments immediately as they are needed; and, at the same time, he can see the upcoming features of the field ahead. With a rear mounted implement, the driver can either view the upcoming field or can turn around and watch the implement. Additionally, middle mounting avoids some of the problems of front mounting, namely: gauge wheels on the implement are not necessary, better depth (or height) control can be achieved, the weight of the implement and implement-work-forces are more evenly distributed between the front and rear tractor wheels, and a middle mounting tractor can get the implement closer to ditch banks or fences when pulling forward to them or when backing up to them and pulling away.
Although a number of middle mounting systems exist in the art, they have limitations and deficiencies that have caused such systems to remain niche applications with the vast majority of tractors and implements utilizing the rear and/or front mounting systems. For example, one major deficiency present in the art is that there is no easy way to change middle mounted implements. Such implements can be disconnected from a tractor, but then have to be slid to the left or right of the tractor in order to avoid the tractor's wheels. Similarly, to attach a new implement, the implement has to be slid into place from the side. As implements can often be big, bulky, heavy, generally unwieldy and difficult to move, this has been a serious limitation in the art. What is needed is a tractor that can be driven directly into position over a middle mounted implement, thereby removing the need to slide the implement into position under the tractor.
Another need that this invention addresses is that of a tractor designed to carry one or more material tanks so that an operator may apply bulk seed, pesticides, or fertilizer while using various implements. Currently available farm tractors are good at carrying or pulling farm implements, but tanks must be “added on” in the form of saddle tanks and front or rear extended tanks. Alternatively, many currently available self-propelled sprayers do have tanks inherently built into their design, but theses vehicles do not have the capability to use implements. The current invention has embodiments that can accomplish either or both: easily loading and unloading of a plurality of consumables carriages for handling material tank(s), while also having the ability to handle a variety of implements in a middle mounted fashion while providing for simply and easy mounting/unmounting.